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Friday, January 21, 2022

"From Crystal Sets to Sideband" -- A Great Book about Homebrew Radio by Frank Harris K0IYE (FREE!)

I first came across the above picture of K0IYE's inspirational, completely homebrew station many years ago in the pages of "World Radio" magazine. I have already linked to Frank's book many times over the years, but it is so good that I regularly feel compelled to write about it again. Frank updates the book. Just check out the introduction to his website. Frank even has a Spanish language version of his book. All for free. Thank you Frank.


The introduction to Frank's web site:


Over the last century amateur radio has evolved into numerous different
hobbies. Some hams enjoy weekend contests in which they try to
contact as many stations as possible. Others talk to as many of the
world's 341 call areas as possible and collect QSL cards to prove it. Other
hams just like to ragchew with friends. Still others communicate over
long distances at UHF frequencies using satellites, meteorites, aurora and
other substitutes for a sunspot-charged ionosphere. Some hams provide
communications for their communities during emergencies.

Many of us have returned to the early days of radio by building our own
equipment from scratch. Most home builders start by building QRP (low
power) transmitters. If this doesn't satisfy your urge to build something,
you can move on to build the entire station. That is what this website is about.


https://www.qsl.net/k0iye/

8 comments:

  1. That sounds good. Do they do a kindle version?

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    1. Just download the chapters as pdf files. Kindle will display them.

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  2. It looks like even his operating desk is home brewed. I'm intrigued by the stack of band modules he has binned up on the back shelf. They must be plugins. No multi-wafer rotaries or relays for K0IYE! It's so different from the current mentality (admittedly my own as well) that wants everything in a single enclosure, and preferably as small as possible.

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  3. And of course available to purchase from Lulu.com as a softcover book.
    Bill GM4UBJ

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  4. Downloaded! looks like great easy reading... great for this icy weekend on the Eastcoast. He's definitely got the disease! A great contribution to the hobby... no micros or si5351's for Frank!

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  5. Ha! On pages 11-13 of Chapter 13A (under the headings "Metal boxes shield each circuit block," and "Shielded modules and shielded cable interconnects"), K0IYE shows himself to be a true wizard and a real master of electromagnetic physics. Stray RF and out-of-control capacitive coupling stand no chance with him. A man after my own heart.

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  6. Here's a chuckle for you...
    https://xkcd.com/730/

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    Replies
    1. So, xkcd has been reading old 73 magazines again, huh?

      Delete

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